Finalists in the Doug Moran become "Award winning artists" at "the cutting edge of selection" according to Mark Moran who also states that "the works selected in this competition are the best".

Doug Bartlett artists Nick Morris and David Bowers recently created the new album art for the upcoming Hoodoo Gurus album Purity of Essence. Here is it's evolution. Go to www.facebook.com/hoodoogurus for more information on the album.

Doug Bartlett is the name given to the energy created when Nick Morris and Dave Bowers work together on the same canvas.

“We open up the roller door to the garage in Torquay and let rip. With a few beers, and the music turned up, we throw ourselves into the canvases. Slabs of colour are slapped down haphazardly and images are layered on at random. A lot of this initial work won’t survive the painting process because we have a rule that says: ‘you can paint over anything, and the other one can’t protest’. Whole vistas appear and disappear. Hours of work can be swept away with one brutal sweep of a brush. ‘Doug has entered the building’ is the only explanation required. This process, which is confronting as well as cleansing, continues until we both agree the painting is finished. Working this way creates a feverish momentum, and we can be working on up to forty paintings at a time. The canvases are a free-flowing exchange of random images and themes, and are applied using stencils, spray paint, silkscreen and freehand, using acrylic paint and oil stick. We glean material from mass popular culture, including quotes from celebrities and words lifted directly from spam text.”

Morris “I am inspired by the iconic images of my childhood in Ballarat. Australian symbols like ‘Hoges’, GT Falcons and Monaros permeated every fibre of my being. I still remember staring in awe at my father’s friend’s sparkly green speedboat named ‘anyhow…..’. These images, along with cartoons, pop stars and religious icons, were my childhood landscape. I also loved the random patterns and textures of all the stickers on the wardrobe in my room. Some half ripped off and others half-stuck over another. These symbols and aesthetics form the basis of my art. Our rule of painting over anything you want creates art with no boundaries, free from clinging and being too precious, and the creative process is accelerated as we bounce off each other.”

Bowers “Aesthetically I find inspiration comes from anywhere any time. I find myself mesmerized by what I call incidental urban micro landscapes, like the patterns of road repairs, or chewing gum on the footpath; symbols, numbers and letters on power poles; the accidental tracks and patterns we leave as a species. I find the process of decay quite beautiful—rust, peeling paint etc. The fine line between beauty and ugliness. I create cartoon characters that would fail a Disney audition. They look too sad, too eager to please, too dumb, too angry or they haven’t aged well. For me these characters represent the imperfect masses. I get a huge kick out of sharing canvases because of the chaotic momentum. Working alone you can sometimes labour over a detail for hours, but with a shared canvas, someone else (Doug) will just boldly paint right over it and I'll think what a bloody relief.” See www.nickmorris.com.au for more images and online sales.